Let's Test 2012

The first (as far as anyone I know is aware) Context-Driven conference in Europe is quickly approaching. On May 7-9, 2012 in Stockholm, Sweden, Let’s Test “A European conference on context-driven testing – for testers, by testers” will take place.

This is a CAST inspired conference, meaning that it focuses on in-depth exploration of topics, includes facilitated discussion as part of every talk (i.e. speakers don’t get to “run out of time” as soon as they hear that “hard question”) and conferring only increases between and after sessions. It’s a fabulous format! If you haven’t experienced it, and you are passionate about testing, you really want to — it will change your perspective on conferences forever.

I am proud to say that I will not only be attending Let’s Test 2012, but that I am honored to be on the program with some first-run content that I’m very excited about:

The tutorial is exciting because it is what I had in mind when I started developing Quick, Easy, Cheap and Valuable Performance Testing for Every Member of the Team in all of it’s variants (the link is to a very professionally done recording of my STANZ 2010 Keynote). If you’re not familiar with the talk, go watch it — or at least make it an annoying extra tab in your home group to remind you that you want to watch it as soon as you can make the time (that’s what I do with things I find but don’t have the time to watch/read at the moment). Now imagine that talk updated with all the latest tools, tricks, tips, gimmicks, helpers and stuff; then extend it to include the rarely done, but hugely valuable geeky stuff; then add your laptop and/or smartphone and one or more sites/apps you’d like to do some performance testing on; mix it all together with a healthy pinch of “tester passion” and that’s why it’s exciting to me.

Honestly, if that doesn’t just sound like the best single-day techy training event you’ve ever heard of — well, then I guess performance testing just ain’t your thing. That’s ok though, because the other tutorials you have to choose from are all either on my list of “all-time favorites” or “I’d love to see this if I weren’t teaching!” including:

The keynote is exciting because it is the first time I’ll be presenting a consolidation of my thoughts around the mission(s) of testing and how they relate to tester success, project success, product success, and even business success – the culmination of which is a model that I’ve been working on, collaborating over, and vetting for over a year related to a new & somewhat unique way to look at software testing… as an integral part of the overall product assessment throughout.

If you follow me even passively and are up to date on my blog, you may have guessed that I’ve been building up steam toward something. Well, this is it. This is where all the pieces are going to come together; at a brand-new conference, during a keynote, in front of many of the most informed and passionate testers in the world, without a safety net — remember, every session includes facilitated Q/A, so no tap-dancing, no dodging, no deflecting. So my ideas will fly or get crushed both publicly and immediately. Either I’m really confident that I’m onto something, I have an exceptionally high tolerance for risk, or I’m just a bit nuts. Regardless of what combination of the above it is, we’re I a passionate tester, I wouldn’t want to miss this!